


When the Violence Causes Silence

by BlackRoseShiori



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Gen, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Probably more cerebral than what I usually write, So much angst, Verbal abuse of Precursors, Will add more tags as they come to me, gratuitous misuse of science, rated for later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 22:17:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14602902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackRoseShiori/pseuds/BlackRoseShiori
Summary: Jake is fixated on creating a breach and taking the fight to the Precursors. This, however, creates some unusual problems for the PPDC:1. How to open a human-made breach.2. How to survive in the Anteverse when even one of their best Rangers couldn't.3. The effect that the eradication of the Precursors would have on one of their best and brightest, Dr. Newton Geiszler.OR:I just have a lot of Uprising feelings.





	When the Violence Causes Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Your girl has gone and started a serious story that isn't entirely about science gays. Although, spoiler, it's still mostly about science gays.
> 
> Thanks for reading this prologue!

Hermann had yet to make himself feel. 

No sadness, no pain, but also no joy. After the world was saved (again) there had been no celebrating for him. He looked around the Jaeger bay at the cheering of the people who suddenly looked so very, very young. The relief was palpable, but Hermann felt nothing but the weight of his work pressing down upon him. The Rangers (so, so young) were on their way back from Tokyo, with Newton in custody.

_We caught ourselves a Newt._

Hermann absently reached up and brushed his fingertips along his throat. The bruises that had bloomed there had held the shape of Newton's fingers, perfectly.

He was afraid. Not of Newton, but of the thing on its way back from Tokyo. 

It wasn't a fear for himself, for his own life. It was overwhelming, almost debilitating, fear for Newton's life. Hermann was sure that he had witnessed the real Newt in those brief moments in the Shao lab, but he had no idea how to replicate that moment. 

_I'm sorry, Hermann. They're in my head._

Every experiment called for a certain scientific method.

1\. Formulate hypothesis  
2\. Collect data  
3\. Test hypotheses  
4\. Conclude

But Hermann had no baseline. No control. No example of any variables to compare to the Precursor invasion of a human mind.

And not just any human mind. Hermann had never said it enough, especially after they met in person, but Newton had one of the greatest and most important minds in the modern world. Maybe even beyond the modern world and into alien worlds.

Perhaps that's why the Precursors had chosen him.

Hermann considered himself lucky to have picked up even part of Newton's expertise in biology, particularly kaiju biology, as it had served him well in these past weeks of uncertainty. But no amount of drift-gained knowledge could replace the real thing.

He knew he was the best in the world at what he did. He had mapped the breach, he had programmed the first Jaegers. No one else could say that. But while much of his expertise was cerebral and hypothetical, Newton's was the perfect complement in how opposite it was to Hermann's. Everything Newton did was hands-on, physical, and absolutely mad. 

_Or I'd be a rock star._

Hermann didn't move when he heard that the helicopters bringing in the Tokyo survivors had arrived. Not yet. He wasn't ready.

**

"We could really use your help, doc," Jake Pentecost said with soft, pleading eyes. 

Hermann considered him for a few seconds, and had a thought that Jake was just as capable as his father of getting what he wanted out of people, but he went about it in a completely different way. Stacker made you want to fight for the sake of the whole world. Jake made you want to fight for your own sake.

"I'm not sure I'm ready," Hermann finally said, unable to curb his feelings in the presence of Jake's puppy eyes. He gripped his cane tighter to ground himself.

Jake gave him a small, supportive small and said, "If you wait until you're ready, you'll never do it."

_Fortune favors the brave, dude._

**

When someone is seriously ill, there is a saying: "They have one foot in the grave." 

Hermann Gottlieb wasn't entirely sure it applied in this circumstance but, regardless, the words kept repeating in his mind, like the skipping of a record player, as he looked through bulletproof glass at the man who used to be his lab partner and closest friend.

There had been numerous brain scans, psychological testing, and more bloodwork than Hermann knew existed, but the conclusions from doctors whose names Hermann hadn't bother to remember were all the same.

Newton was gone. Or, if he was still there at all, the portion of Newton that may have survived would never regain control.

_He's not strong enough._

Hermann steeled himself. He would just have to be strong enough for the both of them.

"Open the door."

 

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
